Join 213Hoops’ Clippers – Lakers game thread to discuss our first taste of the 2020-21 NBA season as the two LA teams face off in preseason action!
The game begins a little early, at 7:00 pm Pacific time, and should be available on Fox Sports Prime Ticket, Fox Sports San Diego, and the Lakers’ Spectrum SportsNet channel for those in Southern California. The rest of us will have to watch on NBA League Pass as there’s no national coverage for this game.
For the Lakers, superstar duo LeBron James and Anthony Davis will sit out tonight as the team gets the pre-season underway in the midst of an accelerated training camp following a short turnaround from their NBA Finals triumph in October. The Clippers have had their entire roster, save for 55th overall pick Jayden Scrubb, available in practice throughout this week. There has been no announcement yet that any main contributors will sit tonight.
However, the absence of James and Davis will rightfully rid this contest of any veneer of importance some may have considered it to have. As a pre-season opener between two contenders, who will meet on opening night but also hope to battle against each other in the Western Conference Finals six months from now, it’s nothing more than a glorified scrimmage, where neither team will exhibit their full gameplan or effort. Even if the Clippers’ starters all play, it will likely be a low-minutes exhibition where they walk through sets just to get some live-action reps in, with little regard for the scoreboard.
While it will be exciting to get a first look at several new Clipper contributors, particularly Serge Ibaka and Luke Kennard, we shouldn’t overstate our expectations–last year, Kawhi Leonard played in just 2 of the team’s 5 pre-season games, only appearing for 11 minutes in his debut and shooting 5-19 in a follow-up performance where he was clearly playing at half-speed and finding his legs.
The effort should pick up as the game goes on and both teams go away from players who have guaranteed roles for the upcoming season in favor of fringe players, prospects, and camp invites. For the Clippers, Reggie Jackson, Terance Mann, Nicolas Batum, and Patrick Patterson are all competing for minutes in the back end of their rotation, while deep-bench prospects like Amir Coffey, Mfiondu Kabengele, and Daniel Oturu will do their best to prove they belong in the above conversation as dependable depth. We’ll learn a lot more in pre-season from paying attention to things like Daniel Oturu’s pick-and-roll defense than Kawhi Leonard’s three-point shooting.
For more on what to watch for tonight, check out the latest episode of The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast, where Dr. Shap, 213Hoops editor Robert Flom, and myself discussed the Clippers’ pre-season .
Ultimately, in a meaningless contest that will be forgotten before it even ends, it’s just nice to have a chance to watch Clipper basketball again. Enjoy the game in our new comments section below, with a live thread.
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